


Pursuit of Something New

by optimistic_sentinel



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Humanstuck, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Texas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-05-17
Packaged: 2017-12-09 08:26:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/optimistic_sentinel/pseuds/optimistic_sentinel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the town of Hussfield, Texas, life couldn't seem more ordinary. Karkat Vantas is a 21 year old minimum-wage worker at the local movie theater, generally loathing life as it goes by monotonously. He never expected a naive idiot with the most irritating bucktoothed grin to give him something new to think about.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In which our story begins

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, I got my AO3 invite finally, so if you knew me as Black Rose Heart on ffnet, this is still me.

Hussfield, Texas. It was one of those places on a map that your eyes just scan over, close enough to population centers to keep it from being out in the middle of nowhere, but far away enough to keep it isolated from any sort of city life. A town big enough so that it was impossible to know everyone, but small enough to keep out the ever-changing ways of the big cities. Overall, an unremarkable human establishment.

Sure, they had rich folks, poor folks, in-between folks. Teen romances and movie theaters. Schools, malls, attorney offices. Plumbers, public speakers, computer repairmen. Museums and apartment buildings. Ranches and mansions. The typical All-American town, where hopes, dreams and life-long aspirations come true.

Most of the time.

Welcome to the home of one extremely crabby movie theater worker, a slightly schizophrenic hacker with a penchant for metaphysics, a cutesy animal shelter volunteer, a lonely robotics engineer with a complex, a meditative mortuary assistant who has a fixation on death, a cheerful rich heiress with a dysfunctional family, a moody hipster looking for love, a gentle cattle-wrangler paralyzed in a brutal accident, a fearless gambler who's not afraid to go all in, a blind law school student who's spirit is only matched by her eccentricities, a hopeless romantic fashion designer, and the rebel rodeo clown son of an industry mogul.

This is the story of how their lives collide in the ultimate double Mobius reach-around. An impact that changed their lives forever. A cataclysmic event that began with-

"I mean really, do you want you fucking popcorn or not, fuckass? I don't give a flying shit about whether or not you wanted butter on the damn thing, you're just lucky I actually stooped low enough to get it for you." The speaker took a short puff of a cigarette and coughed, his normally angry features strained into a grimace.

"Dammit Sol, how can you stand these things?" He glared at the taller man, irritated by the obvious difference in their heights.

His coworker leaned against the rough stone exterior of the movie theater, uncut grains snagging the fabric of his tacky striped red-white-and-blue uniform, identical to that of his ornery friend. The calmer of the two took a long drag of his chosen poison and sighed.

"I don't like them, KK, but I keep them 'round to relax. You took that one from me becauth I thaid you wouldn't like 'em." He said, a lisp obstructed his pronunciation, tilting his head back to stare at the sky behind dark shades. It was one of those autumn days when the weather decided to cooperate, a gentle breeze and cloudless views. However, his companion was less than interested in the glory of the natural world.

"Y'know, if it wasn't for Nep, I'd quit on the spot. Do an acrobatic fucking pirouette off the handle and leave." The shorter scoffed, tucking a bit of his burnt umber hair behind his ear. He'd have to get it cut soon.

"Well, it'th alwayth about family, right? Hey, what about that couthin you thought you could move in with? He ever call you back?"

His friend had a sound halfway between a groan and a chuckle. "Oh, he called me back all right. Goddammit, took me a full hour to erase all of his messages from my voicemail, I swear. Last time I ever ask Kankri a simple question. Long, long, long fucking story short, he's out on the old public-speaking trail and when he's not violently shoving his long-winded speeches down everyone's aural canals, he's blogging about it." Karkat crushed his barely-used cigarette into the public ashtray.

"Muth be pretty bad then. How'th Nep doing lately anywayth?" Sollux asked, checking his watch to make sure the boss didn't yell at them for staying out after break time.

The other leaned back against the wall, mimicking his friend's posture. "Well, she's doing okay. Loves her job, and I think it's starting to love her back. The owner doesn't mind having a hyperactive cat-lover around."

"Good for her. KK, break'th over thoon, let'th go back in."

"Sure." Karkat sighed, pulling a hand through his messy hair. "Time to serve popcorn by the bucket and soda by the gallon to ignorant malcontents with their heads showed up their asses."

A quick look at the timetables alerted the duo to an unavoidable fact. The 5:30 movie crowd would be there any second. Weaving through the saccharine-drunk crowd, they pushed open a door marked "Employees Only" to get behind the linoleum counter. A few other workers, all dressed in unfashionable stripes the same colors as their own, were quickly prepping for the onslaught to come.

The unmistakable scent of theater popcorn drifted through the air as Sollux added a bag of kernels to the popper. Some oil, a quick shake, and he took up his post on the soda fountain.

Normally, Karkat would be working whatever job had the least amount of contact with people. But thanks to the unexpected, prolonged illness of a cashier, he was quickly trained and deemed up to the challenge. His friend had attempted cashier-work before, but his lisp had become a problem when you ordered Soft Salted Sweet Scoops Supreme.

The grumpy male grabbed a cardboard box of pretzels from the back, shoving the baked loops into the rotating display case topped with the redundant lit-up sign PRETZELS before taking up a spot along the counter, next to the worn apparatus that was narrowly identified as a cash register. He took the spare time to survey the crowd, watching the doors open as increasingly more people came in.

Lines quickly formed, putting Karkat in the position to take his first order of the evening. Out of habit, he liked to guess what the customer was going to see. First up, the teenage couple giggling like hyenas on crack. 500 Days of Summer, obviously. "Hello, welcome to Cinema 15, may I take your order?" The worker rattled off at top speed, attempting to make this go quickly.

"Oh, me?" The bleached blonde said, blinking with eyelashes full off mascara. She turned to her boyfriend, not missing the opportunity to flip her long, conditioned curls back from her plunging neckline. "Sweetie, why don't you order for the two of us, I need to slip off to the ladies room." Her tone so full of obvious infatuation that Karkat had to resist the urge to gag. It was like watching a shitty romcom in real life. Not that he had any problems with shitty romcoms. Just real life.

"Sure, baby," her tall, well-muscled date crooned, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. As soon as she was out of earshot, he gave the sales assistant an obnoxious grin, "She's the third one this week. Pretty good, huh? Think I scored." Once Karkat's indifferent expression failed to please him, he cleared his throat and ordered, "Uh, one salted butter popcorn, a large cola with two straws and a box of Junior Mints."

At least he was quick. "Thank you sir, I'll be back with your order in a bit." Couples always made him a bit sour, but that may have been his depressing love life talking. Or maybe just everything managed to anger him somehow. He quickly filled a popcorn bucket, squirted on the artificial gunk that was supposed to taste like butter, some salt, shook it around it bit, and yelled "Large coke!" to Sollux. It was almost impossible to communicate verbally above the incessant chatter surrounding them, but Karkat had always managed. The other nodded and turned his impassive shades back to the machinery, reflecting the fluorescent lighting of the displays.

Seconds later, the order was ready. Karkat barely hid a disgusted sneer as he stuck two plastic drink straws through the top, then grabbed a small box of Junior Mints from under the counter and placed it next to the popcorn and drink. "That'll be…" he typed the totals in, added sales tax, and watched the total light up on screen, "26.56." As cash exchanged hands and the register opened and closed, the girl ran up behind her boyfriend and slipped a hand over his eyes.

"Guess who?"

He laughed. "You're quick. Lemme get the stuff and I'll be with you in a sec."

She pulled her hand off, grabbing the mints before he could lay a hand on them. "Okay, but these," she shook the box, "are mine."

"Sure thing. Let's go." And with that, they left, headed to a splendid night of a relatively decent romcom in which the protagonist is a male who attempts to become close to a woman who insists she does not want a boyfriend presented in a non-linear narrative containing about five humorous lines in the first segment-

The next customer kindly interrupted his thoughts by clearing his throat. Karkat was knocked out of his analytic stupor. Realizing he had to repeat the entire spiel, he gritted his teeth before calmly saying, "Hello, welcome to Cinema 15, may I take your order?"


	2. In which there is service

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Onwards!

 

Lines quickly decreased as the registers dinged open and money exchanged hands. Karkat barely noticed the new customers, a middle-aged couple escaping home for “date night”, three boys who were all pumped to see a new action film, a family of four out for the new Disney animation.

Population slowly fell in the lobby as viewers rushed to their screens, desperately hoping that there would be a few more previews to keep them from missing a minute of their theater experience. In one of those rare lapses when the lines were next to empty, Karkat found himself drifting off again. He didn’t notice the menacing form approaching the counter.

“Excuse me, worker, I believe I am next.” A regal tone said, jolting Karkat out of his thoughts. Cracked shades seemed to glare at him as rivulets of sweat crept down the man’s forehead, falling into his long sandy blonde hair that brushed his broad shoulders.

It was sufficient enough to stop the cantankerous employee from snapping back. “Uh, hello, welcome to Cinema 15, may I take your order?”

The heavily muscled man in a wife beater kept staring at him. “I was expecting to meet someone here. You didn’t happen to see a girl wearing a blue cat hat and an oversized green coat?”

Karkat frowned. That was practically a spot on description of what his sister had been wearing when she left the house. Was this creep trying to make a move on Nepeta? Shit…he’d better make sure first. “Brunette, green eyes, about my height?”

“Yes, that’s her.”

Karkat had two options. One, leap over the counter yelling, “that’s my sister, you shitstain!” which he didn’t think would increase his odds of survival, or two, he could state the obvious.

“She’s behind you.”

A shocked look formed for a millisecond on the guy’s face before he turned around, observing the smiling youth who was giggling adorably.

“You should have seen yourself freeze up, Equius! It was hilarious!” She said in between laughing fits.

“I…suppose it must have been amusing.” The side of Equius’s lips quirked up, a bare semblance of a smile.

“Sure was! Now, Mr. Movie Worker,” she said with a wink, “could I get a-”

Karkat was trying to withhold his anger, but was, as usual, failing miserably. “Nepeta, may I ask what in the name of all that is furry and anthropomorphically represented is going on here?” He felt his hands clenching into fists.

“Kar, Equius is a friend. He comes by the shop and the shelter a lot, and he’s purrfectly safe. Stop being so overprotective!” She pouted, trying to preempt her raging brother with reasoning.

“Nep, this may be where I get a paycheck, but my real job is making sure you don’t go out and meet complete strangers who could be dangerous!” He pointed at the muscular man, who was extremely confused at the moment. “Look at him! Did the little fluff beasts decommission your last bit of common sense and cover it liberally with catnip?”

She rolled her eyes. “Why do you think I decided to come here? If you think something’s wrong, you’re nearby, and I’m riding home with you after the movie anyway! Now there’s something you can’t object to!”

Karkat was about to burst into a tirade, when he realized she was right. He thought for a second then ground his teeth in frustration. “I can’t _object_ to it, huh? Terezi helped you think of this, didn’t she?”

Nepeta beamed, satisfied with her negotiation skills. “Of course. I texted her about it. Now if you don’t mind, a large popcorn and some-”

“-Swedish Fish, Nep, I know. Anything else?” He looked pointedly at Equius, expecting him to order something. The buff male had a look of confusion written all over his face.

“So, Nepeta’s your-”

“Annoying, cat-obsessed sister, yes. And before you say it, yes, not much of a family resemblance. We get that a lot. Now, anything else?” Karkat said grumpily. He’d have to give his careless charge a lecture when they got home about trusting people.

“I suppose I will have a large water.”

“Coming up. Large water, Sol!” Karkat shouted back, getting a nod from his friend.

“Oh, Sollux is here too? Hey Sol!” Nepeta leaned on the counter and waved, trying to catch a glimpse of the shade-wearing hacker.

“Hey Nep. Thought I heard KK thouthing more than uthual.” He replied, still concentrating on the plastic cup slowly filling with water. He glanced over, observing the brawny figure of her friend. “Oh, I thee. Wath KK being an overprotective bitch again?”

“Like always!” She laughed.

Karkat was scooping popcorn in the back. “I heard that, Sollux, you sociologically challenged jackass.”

Equius shook his head. “Nepeta, do you know everyone who works at this theater?”

She shrugged. “Just the funny ones with weird names.”

The disgruntled clerk pulled a box of multicolored fish-shaped gummies out from under the counter, setting it on the top beside the bucket of popcorn. His coworker handed him the drink, and he tapped the worn keys of the old register.

“And that’s 22.50.” He said, ringing up the total on the screen, banging the side to the archaic machine when the backlight flickered.

“Ah yes, I will be covering the purchase. No gentleman would make a lady pay for such concessions.” He flicked a few bills out of his wallet. Karkat quickly made change and handed it back to him.

“Nep, what movie are you going to see? If it’s the new Paranormal movie, you know the last one didn’t let you sleep for a week-”

She sighed. “No Kar, it’s the new Nic Cage flick. While you’re prying, why don’t you ask me if my shoes are tied and if I washed my face this morning?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Your shoes are double-knotted, I already know that.”

She rolled her eyes, “Right. Not overprotective at all. Well, see you at eight! Come on, Eq.” She turned tail, pulling the arm of her companion. They both vanished off to the side, but that didn’t stop Karkat from dangling over the counter to watch them for as long as possible.

Sollux face-palmed. “KK, you’re one hell of a hover brother, you know that? Let her meet new people thometimes. Thop worrying.”

Karkat scoffed, “Shut the hell up, Sollux, she’s my sister. I’ll glare at the people she goes out with like any normal older brother would do. Did you see the muscles on that guy? I’ll bet Nepeta’s collection of R-18 slash doujins that he’s some sort of wrestler with a mental issue.”

Sollux looked vaguely interested. “Where’d the get all the doujinth anyway? And why are they all thlash pairingth?”

Karkat fumed. “That was not the point of the metaphor, you ass-licking moron. He could seriously take advantage of her if he wanted to, and I don’t know if I could do anything about it!”

“Hm, I dunno. You could yell loud enough tho that he runth away holding hith eardrumth. Being loud and noticeable theems to be a Vantath family thing. That and pulling your panth up to your chetht.”

“Sol, how many times do I have to tell you, I was drunk when that happened and the Pantskat thing got old months ago. Even Vriska stopped making jokes about it.” He frowned. “Well, maybe I just haven’t talked to that arachnid addict in a while. And anyway, I have a valid point here!”

“Sorry KK, my hearing muth be going, I thought you thaid you had a valid point.” Sollux snickered, watching as his friend’s face twisted into an angrier expression.

“You are so lucky I’m on the clock right now, because otherwise I would cause a deluge of pure, unadulterated rage to let flow an expansive flood of creative insults that will have the after effect of complete and utter shame wracking your brain like a twisted wire framework that supports your gristly decomposing cerebral heap for the rest of your implacably idiotic life.”

“Yeah, got it. I’ll be sure to inthult you later then.” Sollux was trying to hide his shit-eating grin before Karkat made Mount Pele look like a 4th grader’s C- science project.

“You insufferable piece of flesh. I haven’t been this disgusted since I accidentally listened to Friday on the radio. Why Nep likes that cheesy pop music, I’ll never know. I am the universe’s chew-toy. It is me.” He shook his head, causing his rumpled mop of brown hair to fall into a further state of disarray.

“Cheer up KK. Only a couple more hourth before thift’s ov-” As Sollux looked over the counter, he froze. This did not slip beneath the notice of a certain disheveled companion.

“Sol?” Karkat looked up, following the unmoving shades to spot…

“Who’s this douchebag?” He asked Sollux, observing the despicable chunk of humanity sauntering their way, a giggling girl dangling off his side. His styled blond hair bore a fluorescent purple stripe down the middle, matching the lavender shade of a striped scarf hanging around his neck.

“Thith guy pithes me off, KK. You’ve never had to meet him becauthe you don’t work the later thifts all the time, but he’th ridiculouth. Hith dad ownth the theater, tho thith guy juth walkth in every Friday with a new guy or girl on hith arm. And the way he talkth ith hella annoying. You deal with him.” Sollux said, an edge to his tone that Karkat knew better than to argue with.

“Gotcha, Sol. One douchebag order coming up soon. Unfortunately. What’s up with this guy, he’s giving off the aura of half tool, half hipster, one hundred percent snobby rich kid. I’m surprised these movies aren’t too mainstream for him.” The cashier snorted, then composed himself as the personification of the bane of humanity came within earshot.

“Yeah, so I w-was saying, oh w-wait, hold on darlin’, I’m gonna order now-w.” Hipster glasses focused on the less-than-pleased Karkat. “Gimme a large popcorn, a large w-water, a small cola, and some Care Bear gummies.”

“Yes sir, we’ll have your food for you in a minute.” Karkat said, trying to repress the growing sense of hatred that colored his voice so frequently.

Passing by Sollux as he got the childish candy he muttered, “I was beginning to wonder why we stocked those. Large water, small cola.” He repeated dutifully, because it didn’t pay to piss off the owner’s son. Even if he was a douchebag/tool/hipster…well, maybe then…

After about a minute of top-notch concessions work, the parts and pieces of the order had assembled on the countertop. Eridan looked up from his well-endowed date to give a self-satisfied smirk.

“Oh yeah, see, my father owns this place, so just put it on his _tab_.” The pampered tool said, savoring the words like a fine confection that only the wealthy could afford.

“Of course, enjoy the movie.” Karkat managed to get out through a painfully fake half-smile. When the two disappeared, the youth resumed his usual expression of disgust. “That was thoroughly and absolutely ridiculous.”

Sollux nodded. “You’re telling me. Sometimes he trieth to hit on the cathiers. You got lucky.”

Karkat’s face twisted into a sneer. “Wait. Hit on them while he has a date with him? Fuck, he’s worse than I thought.”

“A guy in your line, KK. Turn that frown upthide-down.”

“Right.”

Hours dragged by as the resentful minimum wage-earner barely suffered through hesitant orders and fulfilled the employee report he had been given the previous year to the letter; “Unsatisfactory, needs to work on anger management and customer service skills”

Nepeta eventually emerged from her movie, chattering about the character pairings she liked in the movie and talking a bit with Equius before bidding him farewell. Of course, this was all observed under the omnipotent eye of an overprotective brother who analyzed the situation on several planes of romance all at once. Since it was still a while before shift ended, Nepeta reminded her brother that she could drive and got him to reluctantly hand over the keys, convincing him to ride home with Sollux later. He reluctantly agreed, but not before thoroughly conducting a monologue including thirty distinct points, sixteen useless safety tips and one sarcastic joke.

 


	3. In which there is annoyance

At last, it was rush hour in the theater. Neon lights blazed brightly as they ran the length of the walls decked with poster displays. Mass volumes of humanity flowed in and out of the doors in a seemingly endless current. The ages evened out, mostly young adults and juveniles with a taste for adventure and obnoxious group gatherings.

Karkat turned around, facing the group of four people at his register. A boy with rumpled dark-brown hair, square-frame glasses and irritatingly noticeable buck teeth stood in front, his wallet already in his hand. He had a goofy grin on his face that the cashier wanted to slap off his face.

“Welcome to cinema 15, can I help you?” If one listened closely, the restraint in his voice was almost tangible.

“Oh! Yeah, sure! One second…” He turned to face his companions. “What does everyone want?”

Karkat felt himself lose faith in humanity. Why don’t people just figure out what to order before they get in the fucking line?

A kid with blond hair and round shades that immediately labeled him as an insufferable prick spoke up, “Just get me some orange soda. Large.”

The girl next to him, probably the sister of the other guy, tilted her head as if the menu was sideways. “Hm…tough…Sour Patch Kids and Dave and I’ll share a popcorn.”

The blonde rolled his eyes. “Jade, I didn’t ask for popcorn.”

“You’re going to steal mine anyway.” She shot back. “Medium, please”

“I’ve already eaten.” The final member of the group said, a mature youth with her pale blonde hair pulled back with a pink headband, wearing what looked like the casual collection for models. Thank god, one less thing to make.

“Um,” the front glasses kid strained to look at the menu, “you don’t have Fruit Gushers, do you?”

“They’re not on the big lit-up board behind me, so no.” Karkat was beginning to lose anything that even partially resembled patience.

“Okay, gee whiz, I’ll have Rasinettes then.”

“Coming up. Large orange!” The command reached Sollux, who decided to show off by spinning the cup around in a complicated movement before setting it down on the machine.

“Poser.” Karkat muttered as he pushed fluffy yellow kernels into a striped bucket. Finishing off the pile with a final scoop, he set it down on the counter and pulled out two boxes of candy from underneath the counter. Tapping the keys, he pulled up the total in glowing blue numbers.

“Hi again idiot, 21.43 is your total.” He waited expectantly for a debit card, cash, some form of payment. Naturally, it was the sight of the bespectacled boy digging around in his pockets of his bright cerulean hoodie for the last dollar and forty-three cents as a crumpled twenty lay on the discolored linoleum.

“Okay, 1.40, 1.41, 1.42, 1.43!” The annoyingly cheerful kid dug the remaining pennies out from the crevices of his tight denim pockets. “Perfect! And we’re just in time to watch the anniversary showing of Con Air!”

One of the group members groaned. The insufferable prick. “Con Air? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

His friend pouted. “But Dave! It’s like the best movie ever! And that scene where he reunites with his loving wife and daughter? Man, I want to act that out in real life some time.”

“Whatever man. I’ll just go to the fro-yo place next door if that’s the case. Pick up some chicks there by inquiring ‘bout their favorite flavor and-ow, dammit Jade, maybe not.”

“C’mon! It’s fantastic, you should see it. Hey, er, you,” the bucktoothed wonder turned back to the counter, where a completely underwhelmed employee stood, “what do you think about Con Air? Can you help me convince my bro?”

Karkat blinked. Customers rarely asked him about movies. “You want my professional opinion?”

He nodded quickly. “Yes please. Anything to make Strider watch this.”

The worker gave him a warning look. “If you’re sure…”

The kid’s grin betrayed his naiveté. “Of course!”

“That movie is a sentimental trap made for underage role-players doomed to a life of puttering around in their mother’s basement. No one under the impression that they are about to watch a halfway decent film should even venture into the awkward theater seats that the company installs.”

The youth looked as if he’d received a stinging slap from a metal arm. “You’ve seen it then?”

Karkat shrugged apathetically. “I didn’t have to. It’s all in the title.”

A new passion was kindled in the bright blue eyes of the fierce supporter. “No way man, you have to come and see it too then. Come on!”

Karkat held back a smirk. Who did this presumptuous idiot think he was? Just saying he had to go see a movie with him on a spur of the moment decision? “In case me taking your order and handing you food was not an obvious indicator, I’m currently on the job. I can’t just take a break and go see a movie with a random patron.”

The boy clasped his hands together in a begging position . “Aw, c’mon, please? I’ll pay for stuff, but I need to spread the word about how awesome my favorite movie is!”

Now he was stuck. This kid looked bratty enough to complain to management if he didn’t get his way. Karkat was already hanging by a thread here as it was. The kid was a total jackass, but a free ticket was a free ticket. And what the heck, he could bring a sweeper and look like he was doing work. Or not. He checked the clock. His shift was over in five minutes anyway. That clinched it.

“Sure, why the hell not?” He jumped over the counter in a practiced motion, drawing some looks from the staff and almost knocking into the fearless Con Air fanatic. “But you’re buying.”

The boy’s face lit up instantly, a smile dimpling irritatingly on his cheek. “Sounds good. I’m John, by the way.” He held out his hand, which Karkat shook.

“Karkat. And no comments on the name.”

 “Name? I thought you were choking.”

“Very funny, wise guy. If you used those ridiculous lens-filled frames you call glasses, you might be able to see it taped onto my nametag with all the permanence of my position here. Now are we going to see a crappy Nic Cage movie or what?”

“You can use Dave’s ticket, since it looks like he managed to get away.” Sure enough, as John pointed it out, the insufferable prick had absconded while no one was looking. And he’d taken his soda.

Karkat, meanwhile, had undone the buttons on his scratchy uniform and tossed the fabric at Sollux, who deftly caught it and hung it next to similar ones on a rack. Underneath, he was wearing one of those free cancer-awareness shirts commonly seen at 5k walks, this one proudly reading “Race for the Cure” accompanied by a pink ribbon.

“Can’t look like I work here if I’m sitting in seats and chewing popcorn, can I? You’re acting like I just poured a cup of soda over my head.” Karkat said, indicating the dropped jaw of one black-haired boy.

“Right. I just wasn’t expecting that. Oh hey, Rose and Jade ran off while I wasn’t looking!” He tugged at the Karkat’s arm. “C’mon, it’s in theater number four.”

The brunette tried to jerk his wrist away as he was dragged to the ticket puncher’s desk. The attendant looked up from the stream of tickets to look at her coworker. “Karkat? What-”

He gave her the abridged version. “Shift’s over in five minutes, got an offer to see a movie, boss is always yelling at me to be friendlier.”

She nodded. Thank god she wasn’t one of the tightasses. “Can’t argue with that. Have a good time.” In one smooth action, she ripped the top halves of the tickets off and handed the stubs back to the two boys.

As they walked away, the blue-eyed wonder grinned. “Well that explained why you wanted to come see Con Air.”

“Maybe it did. Oh, forgot, I’m off the clock, I can cuss everyone out now.” He exhaled. “Thank god, I was getting so fucking tired of smiling at every goddamn person who wanted a bucket of popcorn.”

“Heh, guess I saved the day, then. Karkat, right? You’re not joking?”

“Nope. Whatever the hell possessed my mom to name me that, I’ve got no idea. I just go by Kar most of the time, people think its short for Carter or whatever the hell, makes my life easier.”

John snickered. “Well, anything to make life easier, right?” He walked over to the door marked by a lit up overhang, pulled the stainless steel handle and stepped aside like a royal footman. “Forward, milord.”

“Shut up, fuckass.” Karkat said, but begrudgingly trod over the threshold. As he rounded the dark corner, he remembered why he signed up for this job in the first place. The cinematic atmosphere, loud, perfectly balanced sounds putting you into the life of another character entirely…

“C’mon, you look like you’ve never seen the inside of the theater before! And I bet you have since, well, you work here and all.” John said, his face barely visible in the slight amount of reflected light from the screen currently displaying a fiery explosion from an action flick trailer

“Of course I have, dumbass, isn’t a guy allowed to walk slowly around here?” Karkat grumbled, but it was half-hearted at best. Even though the odd, bespectacled boy was but a slender outline in the barely lit viewing area, he seemed full of excitement the minute he stepped into the room. Here was clearly someone who was truly devoted to the cinematic elements.

Moving swiftly through the empty rows of seats, they located the two girls who had craftily purloined the concessions while they were distracted. Jade begrudgingly handed over the now half-empty box of Raisinettes to a dismayed John. Rose passed the popcorn over and gave a vaguely satisfied smile, as if she had seen the future and knew a particularly interesting secret.

They sat down in the same row, John next to Jade and Karkat next to him. The chairs squeaked as the seats folded out, reminding Karkat that he had missed maintenance last week. Oh well. Time to worry about that later.

The lights dimmed before completely extinguishing. Murmurs from the audience filled the empty airspace as the screen brightened again, showing what was undoubtedly the start of the crappy piece of cinematography known as Con Air. Karkat sighed. He hoped he was wrong about this movie.


	4. In which there is a cold wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it too me so long to upload ;_; I suck. Sorry lovely people! I'll try to make up for it eventually.

He actually didn’t mind it as much as he thought he would. Vriska had already spoiled a great deal of it for him previously, since she was the biggest Nic Cage fanatic he’d met, so he analyzed relationships instead, one of his favorite pastimes.

The showing went by fairly uneventfully. Things exploded violently, a bunny was placed back in its box, a father was reunited with his loving wife and daughter, barbeque was deemed “good” and an ex-con redeemed himself. Popcorn supplies became severely depleted and Rasinettes were finished during the previews. Both youths were giving this film their full concentration, a reverent focus known by all movie buffs.  Their hands might have brushed past each other a couple of times. Maybe three. It wasn’t like Karkat was keeping count.

* * *

 

Soon, the movie credits were rolling past to the tune of some mellow 90s music. Chatter rose up from the seats as patrons filed down the aisles and filtered out of the popcorn-scented atmosphere and back into the bright lights of the lobby, blinking like blinded raccoons.

Karkat contemplated the overall quality of the movie. Decent bits, pretty shitty overall, but not entirely life-wasting. He looked over at the bucktoothed wonder.

Beside him, it appeared that John was facing an epiphany by the metaphorical horns. His blue eyes were wide with a mixture of disbelief and revelation. Karkat snickered. Not a bad look for the moronic pansy.

“I…just realized something.”

Karkat rolled his eyes. Here it comes. “Yes?”

“This movie fucking sucks!”

The movie worker raised an eyebrow in mock skepticism. “What? Really? Allow me to demonstrate how remarkably surprised I am by rolling my eyes with utter compassion and empathy.”

“It’s just…I used to think it was so great as a kid, but I don’t know. Maybe I exaggerated the nostalgia as I got older.” The boy’s shoulders slumped, disheartened as they walked back into the semi-light hall.

“Fuck, you don’t have to look so sad about it. Think about it this way: now you can stop fangasming all over it and go find something else to do with your life. Like watch a decent movie. Maybe something other than a low-budget action flick with sinfully bad screenplay.”

John sighed wistfully. “I doubt I’ll ever find anything that good. Though maybe one of those new Batman movies is going to be good.”

The theater employee snorted. “Fuck no. Superheroes are about as original as fairytale monsters. In fact, I’d rather watch some movie about troll romance than some buff guy in Spandex.”

The bucktoothed boy gave Karkat an inquisitive glance. “Then what do you recommend, Mr. Expert?”

Karkat frowned. “You’d never watch it anyway.”

“C’mon man, maybe I would. Just say it.”

The unkempt employee studied the pattern on the carpet in an attempt to hide his face. “…50 First Dates.”

John guffawed, only adding to Karkat’s irritation. “What? That mushy movie?”

“You are mocking my favorite movie of all time. Are you honestly unaware of how angry this is making me or is your natural talent pissing people off?”

“I thought you were going to say something like, y’know, Deep Impact. ‘Cause that’s way cooler, cause Morgan Freeman’s genteel-”

“If you spew one more work out of that blasphemous pie-hole of yours, I will do the world the infinitely gracious favor of shutting you the fuck up.”

“Well at least I don’t like bad romcoms. I only like good movies, since I’m the best movie critic among my friends. Really!”

Karkat rolled his eyes. “That’s not what you’re making out with yourself to be.”

John paused. “…What?”

Karkat’s face turned red as he tried to correct his slip of tongue. “Shit! I meant making yourself out with yourself, no, you’re, it’s…never mind, it’s a figure of speech.”

Boisterous laughter met this comment and continued for several minutes until John could pull himself together. Karkat’s face only grew redder.

“Oh man, that was the best weird erotic slip of tongue ever! Can you do that again?”

“Shut your mouth. The very point of that matter was that this linguistic mistake was accidental. I can’t ‘do it again’ purposefully, you ignorant conformist.” Karkat gave him a reproachful look as he opened the door to the theater, letting in a gust of bone-chillingly cruel cold air.

“Dammit, it’s freezing out and my sister drove off with my jacket in her car. Fuck!” He shouted the expletive at no one in particular, though several kids stared and were quickly flipped off by Karkat’s practiced middle finger. As he glared at the spot where his car had previously been parked, he noticed that the insane hacker he called a friend had ditched him as soon as his shift had ended. Fucking fantastic.

While Karkat was busy being mature, John had unzipped his hoodie and was sneaking up behind the distracted acquaintance in a pranksterly fashion. Of course, when Karkat felt the warm fabric his neck, he immediately whipped around with the full intention of disemboweling the perpetrator with his bare hands, since this was obviously a kidnapping.

Of course, John was taken aback by this gesture, literally taking a few steps back before Karkat realized that he wasn’t about to be held hostage by an evil drug lord.

“What in the festering pits of the underworld are you doing, asswipe?” He growled, still wary.

“Well, you seemed cold, so I was trying to give you my jacket, idiot.” John countered, still holding out the offending hoodie.

“I’ve got bigger problems at the moment. Like a mode of transportation to the grimy hovel I call my residence.”

“Geez Karkat, if it’s that big of a problem, you can ride with me. Jade, Rose, and Dave sort of took off in Dave’s awesome car, so there’s a few free seats.”

The raggedy cashier rolled his eyes. “Yes, because I must look like I was born recently and therefore have no common sense, leading me to get into a car driven by someone I met two hours ago.”

John pleaded, “C’mon, it’s not like I’m some wacko serial killer! But I guess I’d say that even if I was, so I guess that doesn’t really convince you, but, well, my point is, you need a lift, I’ve got my dad’s pickup, so…”

Karkat sighed. “It seems that the diabolical deity that watches over my depressingly pitiful life has left me no other choice. Why the hell not, John. You have brought my miniscule ego to its bruised and battered knees through your incessant badgering.”

“Does this mean you won’t try to rip my jacket to shreds?”

“Possibly. Now give it here, it’s colder than a frost giant’s armpit tonight. Curse the Earth’s axial tilt.” Karkat begrudgingly pulled the jacket over his t-shirt, completely ignoring the fact that it smelled like laundry detergent and fresh book pages and was pretty dang warm.

“Heh, well then, the truck’s right over here. We got it when we moved over here a few years ago.” John pointed over at a blue Chevy pickup truck in the half-full parking lot.

The duo walked over to it. It wasn’t much of a sight to behold, just another truck in a southern city. The bumper was a little dented and it had seen better days. Perhaps the tough country vehicle had endured the tactless goofball’s driver’s license.

John fumbled getting the keys out of his pocket, managing to unlock the doors in the clumsiest way possible. Karkat went around the other side to get into the passenger side of the bench, pulling open the door too quickly and narrowly missing the cute purple VW bug next to then. As soon as he jumped into the cabin, he was punched sharply on the shoulder.

“What the hell was that for, you disgusting worthless bile sack?” Karkat grumbled, fixing a cold glare on the slightly confused moron next to him.

“Well, it was a punch buggy! So I punched you! That’s how these things work, Karkat.” He smiled, as if explaining the classic game of punch buggy made him obviously superior to the being in the passenger seat.

“I know how the game goes, ass-licker. What hounds the deepest layers of my psyche is the unrelenting question of why the fuck should you care.”

After deciphering the meaning of the cryptic rant, John pouted. “Aw, you’re no fun. Now any last prayers before I start the engine? Dad always says I have to tell people that. I don’t know what he means, my driving is fine.”

Karkat visibly paled. “No, no last prayers to the darkest eldritch monsters that undoubtedly rule over my life, I should be perfectly fine in passing away this very night in a pool of self-deprecation.”

“Calm down, dude. I know how to drive. Promise.” John twisted the key in the ignition, shifted the gears to reverse, and then pulled out of the parking lot without much of a hitch. The disgruntled movie aficionado let out a sigh of relief.

“So where do you live?” Streetlights reflected off John’s glasses, dots of unnatural color splayed across the lenses.

“Take a left on Main, turn right on Andrew, left on Crimson Lane. I can tell you which one it is then.” Karkat said curtly.

“Cool. I don’t live that far away from there actually; we’re on Crockery, just past Forest.” 

Karkat realized he was still wearing the kid’s jacket. He’d take that off when he got home. “Not far then.”

“Hey, you’re on Crimson, right?”

“Yes, and if you had an attention span longer than a superheated ice cube’s, you might have noticed it mentioned in the directions I just gave you.” Karkat huffed.

“Isn’t that where the big Overthrow movement started? Like the really big one, a couple years back. It got on the news a lot.” Since he was watching the road, John missed the profound effect those words had on the passenger. Karkat stiffened immediately, eyes darting around as if he expected a memory to jump out of the shadows. He pulled the blue jacket a little tighter around himself.

“Yeah, it’s where it started.” His voice was slightly strained.

“Just wondering. I had to a project on it senior year. It was pretty cool if you believe the news stories. Though Washington isn’t good at keeping up with all the Texas news.” A green sign with “Andrew” typed on in generic white font flashed in the headlights, causing John to make a right turn.

“Yeah. Washington?” Karkat asked, trying to change the subject.

“Oh, I moved here a couple of years ago for my dad’s work. Nothing very exciting. But we ended up being neighbors to some kids I met through Pesterchum, so that was a plus.”

Karkat sighed exasperatedly. “Pesterchum. Understandable, seeing as you’re the type of person who would waste their time trying to get advice on shitty computer programming.”

“You should totally pester me sometime, I’m ectoBiologist. I had to change it since some kids started trolling me when I was younger. No idea how they got ahold of my chumhandle.”

“What makes the all-knowing John capable of predicting my possession of such a worthless account?”

“You said it yourself. People who ‘waste their time trying to get advice on shitty computer programming’”. John shot back, mimicking the harsh tones of his acquaintance’s voice.

“Well, you happen to be correct on this single account, which will no doubt warrant some sort of celebration among your immediate family members when you return home”

John chuckled. “The longer I spend around you, the more I wonder how you ended up talking like that.”

Karkat could feel his ire rising. “Attention idiot, in my ever-suffering patience I suppose I’m required to explain this to the bone-thick layer draped across the diminutive organ you dare call a brain-”

“There you go again! The weirdly erotic metaphors for stupid things. Heh, I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of entertaining. What were you saying again?” The asphalt intersection of Andrew and Crimson lit up under the headlights, causing John to twist the wheel in a smooth turn.

“I guess my extreme irritation that is drawn from the deepest abysses of anger isn’t sufficient. It seems that absolutely nothing will heal the disease you call idiocy.”

The bespectacled driver rolled his eyes. “Idiocy isn’t a disease, numb-nuts.”

“And you continue to validate my sound point with every malformed word from your discombobulated larynx.” Karkat said smugly, brown eyes flickering to the white mailbox with rusted numbers nailed to the pole. “Stop here, this is the one.”

**Author's Note:**

> Planning this as a multi-fic verse, about 3-4 stories yet to come from different perspectives. Anyways, thanks a ton for reading, comments are definitely appreciated with constructive criticism, and drop a kudo if you liked it ^_^
> 
> Until next time!


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